


The Tenant Downstairs

by divenire



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Comedy, F/M, RomCom-ish, a neighbourhood war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29512047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divenire/pseuds/divenire
Summary: The five tragic hours that led to Katara making out with her worst enemy.In which Toph is a dangerous gambler, Sokka can't hold his liquor, Aang lost Appa, Katara wants her book back and Zuko has no idea why Katara hates him so much - but, in doubt, he hates her back.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 106





	The Tenant Downstairs

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I am left unsupervised and with a new subject to study that bores me to death.  
> I actually think that in an alternate universe Katara and Zuko would get along from minute zero, but the idea of neighbours-that-hate-each-other was fun! I hope you enjoy it!

**THE DISASTER**

Katara's cheeks were on fire and she was out of breath. Zuko's hands were everywhere on her body, under her shirt, on the back of her pants. His lips moved from Katara's mouth to her neck to her ear without following any logic. 

Zuko's mouth captured hers again, as he unceremoniously pushed her against the wall. Katara found herself perfectly wedged between the wall and the boy's body. She sank one hand into his hair and the other clung to his shirt. 

Zuko began to leave a trail of burning kisses on her collarbone, paying religious attention to a particularly sensitive region of skin that elicited a moan of pleasure and frustration from her.

"I fucking hate you." She whispered to him, before abducting his lips again in a hungry kiss.

**FIVE HOURS BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE FIGHT**

Katara was studying Pharmacology and she was on the verge of an existential crisis. The amount of information she had to remember for that stupid exam was absurdly ridiculous and no human being should ever be faced with the condition of having to absorb all that information at once. Damn the stupid day she had decided to enroll into that hell. 

Katara sighed, straightening up in her chair and psychologically preparing to stay there for at least the next hour. Damn it, it was Friday night. At twenty-two, she should have been doing something else on a Friday night, something that hadn’t anything to do with anti-anginal and cardio kinetic drugs, no sir. She should have gone out with her friends, gotten drunk at a pub, and being allowed to wake up at midday the next day. Stupid Med School. 

Crumpled socks used as grenades hit her in the back of the head, bringing her back to reality.

"What the hell, Sokka?" She yelled, throwing the socks back at the owner behind him without even turning. 

"I'M BORED!" Her brother replied in exasperation.

At that point, Katara put down her highlighter and turned to face her taunter. 

Sokka was lying on the bed, his computer abandoned in one corner, countless papers scattered around him, books that had taken the place of his pillow, the calculator dangerously poised between life and death.

"I swear, Katara, I swear if I hear any more talk of stiffness matrices, I will throw up the cold pizza I ate two hours ago." 

Katara squared him impassively.

"Does it look like I'm having fun?" 

"But you don't have a life, Katara, studying on Friday nights doesn't make the slightest difference to you." 

Katara arched an eyebrow.

"I have a life." 

Sokka burst out laughing.

"Really? When's the last time you went out?" 

Katara rolled her eyes and decided to ignore him, for her own and his sake.

But her peace was short-lived. The socks-grain hit the back of her head again.

Katara continued to ignore him. She knew her brother well enough to know that, if ignored, he would leave her alone in less time than an argument would take. 

A paper ball hit her. And another.

Katara had many qualities, but patience was not one of them. 

"Okay, that's enough!" She screamed, jumping up from her chair and charging in his direction armed only with her own anger and a neon green, half-discharged highlighter.

Sokka waited until she was near his own bed, before dodging the deadly slash and slipping away under her arm. In a moment he was near her desk, grabbed her book and darted across the room.

"Sokka, put that book down." 

Katara made to approach him, but Sokka raised the book away from her reach. 

"We're going out. No more studying for tonight."

Katara fidgeted on her tiptoes, futilely trying to grab the book that Sokka kept pushing away as he backed further and further toward the window.

"No one is stopping you from going out! Now give me back my book!" 

"Take it."

"Sokka, I swear, I'll kill you." 

Sokka snickered and raised his arm even higher. Katara grinned in turn: when the going gets tough, the tough get going and it was time to unleash the deadliest of weapons. Without any mercy, Katara hit her brother's hips with a pitiless tickling attack.

"KATARA! Katara, stop it - HAHA, KATARA PLEASE!" 

Sokka struggled, trying not to give in to her and continuing to hold the book up above his head. Katara tried to grab his arm, while with her other hand she continued to torture his side. 

It was at that moment that it happened. The girl saw the scene as if in slow motion, a terrible sequence taken directly from her worst nightmares. The book slipped from Sokka's hands and landed on the windowsill, dangerously hovering over nothing.

"SOKKA, THE BOOK!"

Sokka blinked, suddenly petrified and the realization that, well, his life at that point was as much in the balance as that book. He turned around slowly, as if any sudden movement on his part could somehow determine the terrible fate that awaited the poor Pharmacology book. 

The moment he extended a hand toward the window, the book chose its own fate and fell into the void. 

**FOUR HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE BOOK**

"YOU'RE A FREAKING IDIOT!" 

"IT WAS YOUR FAULT!"

"HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN MY FAULT? I WAS FUCKING STUDYING WITHOUT BOTHERING ANYONE!" 

If Katara had been in the slightest bit more lucid, she certainly would have been concerned that the entire quarters could hear their screams. At that moment, however, her only concern was to overpower her brother's voice. And, possibly, end his ridiculous existence. 

"Okay, Katara, I think you're overreacting, let's just calm down for a second."

"I WOULD BE OVERREACTING? YOU HAVE -"

Sokka put a hand on her shoulder, which only tripled her murderous instincts. How many years in prison would she get for fratricide? It was justifiable homicide, wasn't it?

"Katara, KATARA, listen to me!" Sokka tried to reason with her. "Let me see where the book fell, so I can go get it before security shows up and drags us both away."

Katara calmed down for a moment. Going to retrieve the book. Well, it seemed reasonable, it seemed like the right thing to do, and it wasn't even that crazy of an idea. It would only take five minutes - after all, they lived on the third floor, how much damage could the book have sustained? Katara was honestly more concerned about the floor of the courtyard.

"All right." She finally granted him.

"Okay? Okay. Let me see where it went." 

Sokka leaned out of the windowsill, and when he re-emerged, he looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Don't tell me a dog ate my book."

"Worse." He admitted, with death in his voice.

"Don't tell me that -" 

"Yeah."

A nervous laugh.

"You're kidding, right? That's not physically possible, is it?”

"I really wish I was joking." He answered her, more serious than ever.

Katara, at that point, lost all self-control.

"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU, YOU IDIOT!"

**FOUR AND A HALF HOURS BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE TENANTS DOWNSTAIRS**

"Katara, please calm down!” 

In Sokka's voice was the silent prayer of someone who knew he was facing certain death. Katara saw him glance out the window, perhaps still hoping to be saved from the bell. Maybe he had seen wrong. Maybe the book hadn't really fallen there, of all places. Maybe that freaking brick had dug a hole in the floor, ending up directly on the first floor, where harmless students lived. 

From the desperation with which Sokka returned to look at her, Katara realized that no, her book had not created space-time vortexes, nor had it magically learned to fly, nor had it dissolved into the void. It had fallen diagonally and ended up right there. It had landed on the balcony of the tenants downstairs. 

**FOUR HOURS BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE NEIGHBORS**

"You need to go get me that book, Sokka." Katara ordered him, panic slowly taking the place of anger. She needed her book urgently, she needed to continue studying for the exam she had in three days, and most importantly, she had absolutely no intention of going to claim it personally.

"No, I can't go into that house."

Panic was also present in Sokka's eyes, somehow still rebellious to the fate that obviously awaited him. 

"Sokka, it was your fault, you're going to go get it back for me."

"Katara, you know I can't go there."

Katara rolled her eyes. She was going to kill him. She was sure she was going to commit murder that night, and the murder weapon would be a half-discharged neon green highlighter, which she still clutched in her hands.

Her murderous thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Could it be that ...?

"It can't be him." She said with a nervous laugh, heading for the door and opening it with her heart in her throat.

It wasn't him.

"Can anyone explain to me what the heck all this racket is about?" 

All Katara didn't need at that moment were Aang and Toph. Her two neighbors and dear friends slipped unceremoniously into her room. 

"Well?" Toph incited them, sitting down on Sokka's bed as if the two boys were doing nothing but waiting for their arrival.

Katara sighed in resignation. That night was getting worse and worse, and something told her that there was no end to the worst.

"Sokka dropped my book out the window."

Aang burst out laughing, only to be immediately zapped on the spot by Katara's gaze.

"Sorry. I mean, how?"

"Because my brother is a bloody idiot!" Katara screamed with her arms raised to the sky. 

"Why didn't you go get it back?" Aang asked.

Sokka was still by the window, still pale in the face.

"Don't tell me that ..." Aang said.

"Yeah." 

"What? What's going on?" Toph asked, intrigued and visibly confused.

The other three looked at each other at the same time. Toph was the latest addition to their group and was still unaware of the tragic dispute, the painful and bloody war that had been going on for a year. 

"The book fell into the downstairs balcony."

"So what? Why can't you go get it?"

An icy silence fell over the room.

**ONE YEAR BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE PARTY**

Katara's college life was based on a few simple certainties: cold pizza on the weekends, alcohol after exams, and ice cream on Sunday nights as she watched her favorite TV series to prepare herself for yet another week of survival. No one should ever have disturbed this routine. No one should ever have dared to take away the only joys that a poor, unemployed student life could give her.

But it had happened.

Exactly one year earlier, a series of disastrous events - including a particularly bad exam, her asshole ex-boyfriend dumping her the night before by a freaking text, Sokka who finished all her ice cream, and the delivery man who mystically misplaced her pizza - had led her to become acquainted with the mysterious tenant downstairs. 

If she had been asked now, Katara would have called him, "The snooty, arrogant son of a bitch who thinks he's better than everyone else and hasn't quite made up his mind to move to the other side of town and disappear from my sight forever."

A year earlier he was just the mysterious fascinating boy with the scar she saw in passing in the hallways and to whom she was incredibly, fatally, tragically attracted - not that she would ever admit it, of course.

Zuko, that was his damn name, had found her on the verge of despair and near tears as she screamed over the phone because they had lost her pizza. In order to calm her down, he had told her that there was a quiet party going on in his friends’ room, Mai and Ty Lee, they be damned too, and that she could eat all the pizza she wanted there. Those words had been her undoing. Katara had followed him into his house, had been eating hot pizza - damn rich people, and those had been the last peaceful moments she could remember. 

Suddenly a tranquil evening with a few intimates and strange conversations with almost-unknown people had turned into a Party. Katara was still unclear as to how or why, but from the analysis she had conducted in the weeks that followed, she was sure it had something to do with the fact that the entire fifth floor was in love with Ty Lee. As a matter of fact, she had found herself squashed in the middle of some unfriendly individuals, who had stolen _her last slice of pizza_ , and she was left completely alone. 

Zuko had been gone for at least an hour - Katara had seen him slip into a room with the tall girl in the scary clothes - and he hadn't come back, the idiot.

Katara honestly had no idea what to do and was trying to make her way through the crowd to return to her apartment, defeated by life, when she had heard her brother and Aang's voices, voices she could have distinguished even in the middle of a concert.

**THAT NIGHT, ONE YEAR BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE JACK DANIEL'S**

"The Jack Daniel's! They locked my Jack Daniel's in the safe!"

Katara squeezed her way between two beer-soaked brutes and made her way to the center of the room, not without difficulty. The scene that flashed before her eyes was one she could never forget.

Sokka was on his knees on the floor, arms raised to the sky, tears in his eyes (were those real tears?) and Aang was patting him on the shoulder, trying to comfort him from whatever evil had befallen him. 

Katara reached them in exasperation, determined to take them back to their apartment and to get as far away as possible from that infernal place. 

"What on earth are you doing here?" 

"Hi, Katara!" Aang greeted her, as if they had just met at the bar and not in the most ridiculous situation they could be in.

"IN THE SAFE! MY JACK DANIEL'S!" Sokka continued to cry, obviously drunk, without dignifying her with a glance.

"They stole Sokka's liquor." Aang informed her, genuinely concerned. "And they hid it in the safe." 

Katara ran her hands through her hair. It was all absurd, it was all so unbelievably ridiculous that she didn't even have the strength to comment or ask herself any more questions, including what the fuck they were doing at that party or why anyone had bothered to steal Sokka's liquor in the midst of that slaughter, while, anyway, gallons of alcohol were flowing everywhere.

That was the worst night of her life. 

Jet had dumped her, her exam had gone to shit, she hadn't finished her pizza, and that idiot Zuko had dragged her into this further mess. Where had he gone, by the way?

"Let's get out of here.” She said, resigned and determined to put an end to that night. "Aang, please help me get Sokka upstairs."

Sokka grabbed her leg, Katara almost lost her balance and would have ended up on the floor if someone hadn't grabbed her on the fly.

She found herself face to face with Zuko, who had reappeared who knows when and from who knows where to play the hero. Katara would have much rather found herself with her ass on the ground than in his arms. What an idiot. 

"Are you okay?" He asked her with some concern in his arched eyebrow. 

Oh, he had a lot of nerve. 

"Does anything look okay to you?" She shouted in his face, getting to her feet and walking away from him. 

The boy seemed genuinely confused by all that anger directed at him, but Katara didn't dignify him with a further thought or glance, grabbed Sokka's feet as Aang lifted him by the shoulders and began dragging him by weight, not without effort, out of that damned crowded room.

"Katara, wait -" 

"Fuck you!" 

**FOUR HOURS BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE CONFUSION**

"Okay, guys, don't take this the wrong way, but I honestly still don't understand the war you guys have been waging with the guys downstairs." Toph said, when the three had finished telling the story. 

Aang sighed, sitting down in the nearest chair and running a hand over his bald head. Katara continued pacing back and forth, the highlighter still clutched in her hands. Sokka hadn't moved away from the window.

"That was the worst night of my life, Toph." 

"They stole my Jack Daniel's! And they put it in their safe!"

"My pizza was gone that night because it ended up in their apartment!"

"Yeah, but what does the downstairs tenant have to do with it?" 

"You haven't told her about Appa yet." Aang added with an edge to his voice.

"... Appa?" 

"Appa." 

**ELEVEN MONTHS BEFORE THE DISASTER: APPA**

Since that day, Katara and Sokka had decided to declare war on the tenants downstairs: Zuko, his psychopathic sister who was responsible for the disappearance of the Jack Daniel's, the scary girl Zuko had snuck into the room with, and Ty Lee, who was to blame for the worst night of Katara's life. 

War that the tenants downstairs had decided to gladly reciprocate.

And thus they became incredibly noisy just when Katara and Sokka had an exam, pizzas mysteriously disappeared, clothes from the laundry room ended up scattered all over the building.

No one was sure what all the hatred was about, but no one cared to question it or attempt to sign a peace treaty. No, that war would go on as long as a single member of the two factions stood, ready to fight. 

The final straw was the disappearance of Appa, their mascot, the lovely plush toy of a bison that they had proudly won at the village fair the day Katara and Sokka had met Aang and that represented the symbol of their friendship. 

Appa had disappeared in a mysterious and suspicious situation and all clues led to the downstairs tenants, such as the fact that they were the only people who had used the laundry room where they had washed the stuffed animal (which had sadly ended up in Aang's birthday cake the night before) and the vague answers they had given them when cornered.

That had been the first time Katara had spoken to Zuko since the Party, and the conversation had been anything but pleasant. 

**ELEVEN MONTHS BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE ELEVATOR**

"I know it was you." She told him, stepping into the elevator with him.

"Hello to you, too. I thought you had moved to a new house."

It had to be said that Katara had certainly done a good job of avoiding him throughout that month, taking the stairs when he was waiting for the elevator, taking the elevator whenever she heard his damn voice - of course she recognized his voice, how could she not?

"Don't try to change the subject. I know it was you." 

"I don't even know what you're talking about." 

Katara crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. 

"Appa. You stole Appa."

Zuko rolled his eyes, obviously exasperated.

"Who the heck is Appa?"

"Stop playing dumb."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Katara." 

Katara wanted to slap him in the face at that exact moment. He was obnoxious, hateful, and Katara had never hated someone so much in her life. He drove her crazy for no real reason. From the way he looked at her to that detestable smile of his to the nerve he had to deny the evidence so blatantly. Katara despised him deeply and hoped she would never again find herself in such close quarters with him, never again be so close that she could smell his scent - the damned scent he probably bathed in, since it punctually left a trail in the hallway of the building and everywhere he walked. Katara could have tracked his movements based solely on the intensity of his perfume. Disgusting. 

The elevator doors opened to Zuko's floor, saving him from his fate. Or maybe saving both from that unpleasant situation.

"See you." 

"This isn't over, Zuko." 

The boy turned to her and looked at her in exasperation. 

"Can you tell me what the fuck I did to you?" 

Katara didn't have time to respond, as the elevator doors slammed shut, leaving her screaming at the iron doors. 

"You're a bloody idiot!" 

**THREE AND A HALF HOURS BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE PLAN**

"So, this feud has been going on for a year because you guys think they stole your puppet?" 

"We don't think so, they definitely stole it!" Aang said, dramatically sinking his face into his hands. "We never saw it again." 

"And they still have my Jack Daniel's!" Sokka added.

"And they stole my pizza and are responsible for the worst night of my life!" 

Toph had the air of someone who had listened enough, but by now she must have been used to the daily tragedies of their group. 

"We need to get my book back." Katara declared, with a determination in her voice that would have brought armies of novice cadets back into line.

Sokka nodded, consumed with guilt.

"We need a plan."

"Can't you just knock?" Toph asked, as if the tale just laid out hadn't fazed her in the slightest. Insensitive. 

"Are you out of your mind? Have you listened to a single word we've said so far, Toph?" Sokka told her, shock painted on his face, incredulous at their friend's question.

Katara huffed.

"Guys, enough. We need to come up with a plan."

The four of them remained silent for a few moments, considering the possibilities. Sokka had finally awakened from his moment of panic and was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling for inspiration. Katara was slumped on her bed with her face in the pillow, trying to suppress a scream. 

"What if we rappelled down the fire escape?" Aang proposed, as if suddenly struck by the most brilliant of illuminations.

"We don't have a fire escape." Sokka informed him.

"How not? We do!" 

"I honestly don't know what criteria they built this building on, don't blame me." 

"We could knock on the apartment next door and go by theirs " Toph said after a few moments.

Katara shook her head, returning to sit on the bed and hugging her pillow.

"It's one big house, they share it with Mai and Ty Lee, those damn rich people." 

"TY LEE! OF COURSE!" Sokka exclaimed, standing up and possessed by the demon of excitement. They all looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Today is Ty Lee's birthday!"

"How do you know that?" 

Sokka blushed to the tips of his hair.

"Um, well ... There was a weird week … Where we kind of got to know each other better ... But it was over a year ago, I swear!" 

"Why didn't I know about this?"

"Katara, do you really want to know the details of all my dates?" 

"BOYS! Focus!" Toph called back to them. "Tell me there's a party we can crash tonight." 

Sokka shrugged. 

"Likely?" 

Katara emitted a grunt of frustration.

"We can go check it out." Aang proposed, trying to keep at bay Katara’s anger \- that was obviously about to explode and kill everyone in that room.

Katara sighed. What other choice did she have? That might be her only chance to get her book back, pass the exam, get her medical degree, and fulfill the dream she'd had since she was a little girl to become a doctor and help people. 

"All right. Please return victorious." 

She said, before dramatically returning with her face in the pillow, regretting every wrong choice she had made in her miserable existence. 

**THREE HOURS BEFORE THE DISASTER: SPIES**

_Sokka (21:30)_

_Report, soldiers._

_Toph (21:32)_

_Twinkletoes is in position. He advances with his stealthy pace._

_Aang (21:33)_

_The third-floor hallway is clear. Advance._

_Katara (21:34)_

_Cut the crap and let me know if you can get my fucking book back._

_Toph (21:35)_

_Fuck, Katara, there's no need to be so crass._

_Katara (21:36)_

_…_

**TWO HOURS AND FORTY BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE STRATEGIST**

"Aang texted me that people are coming downstairs. I think there will be a party."

"And what is your brilliant plan to intrude?" 

A grin lit up Sokka's face. 

"My dear sister, it is time to enact the great rescue!" He announced triumphantly, as if that would somehow explain how he intended to slip into the homes of people he'd been at open war with for the past year without being noticed. 

Sokka took one of the papers from his bed, filled with calculations and strange letters, and uncorked the black marker, beginning to draw what should have been the floor plan of their building. 

"The plan is simple," he began, in his best authoritative voice. "I'm going to dress like I've been invited to the party and show up there with Toph. We'll walk into the heart of the party, so among the many people there, no one will pay attention to two guys who arrived in the middle of the blast, and while Toph stands guard, I'll sneak into the room overlooking the balcony, grab the book, and then Toph and I will get the hell out of there." 

Katara looked at him unconvinced.

"Why do you take the blind one to be your guard?"

"Because she's the only one who would be able to stand up for me in case things go wrong." 

Katara was still beyond skeptical.

"Come on Katara, what could possibly go wrong?" 

There were many things that could have gone wrong.

**ONE HOUR AND FORTY-FIVE BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE WAIT**

Katara stared at the ceiling of her room, clutching her cell phone in her hands as if her entire existence depended on it, trying to focus on something other than the party downstairs. The loud music and noise didn't make her job any easier. The girl huffed. When she had first met the people downstairs, she had thought they were the perfect neighbors: they hated parties. Once they had all been invited to a party on the fifth floor and Katara distinctly remembered seeing Zuko, his sister and Mai in one corner, conspiring against mankind. Ty Lee was the only one there in the middle who enjoyed the fun and was a magnetic pole for the worst human cases. She was the reason why every birthday degenerated into that awful racket. 

Anyway, Sokka and Toph had been out for over an hour, and Aang was sending her constant updates, standing guard on the stairs. Oh, that plan had so many holes in it that she couldn't count them anymore. But what other choice had she had but to rely on that makeshift rescue team?

Her brain had worked out the most disastrous scenarios that could ever come true. Nothing, however, was more terrifying than the idea of personally going knocking and coming face to face with any of them. Coming face to face with Zuko. The very thought filled her with an inexplicable rage. 

Where were they? By now they had been in that room for over half an hour, by now they should have been back, either victorious or deeply humiliated in their defeat. But nothing, no sign of life. Katara's nerves were on edge. 

When the phone vibrated, she almost risked having it slip from her hands.

**ONE HOUR AND A HALF BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE POKER**

_Aang (23:00)_

_Toph and Sokka had been in there for over half an hour, I was worried, so I joined the party as well. I found them at the table playing poker._

_Aang (23:07)_

_Toph is winning._

_Aang (23:10)_

_WOO she is so cool. I hope she's not cheating as usual._

_Aang (23:15)_

_Man, I think they want to beat her up._

_Aang (23:20)_

_Maybe a fight is starting._

_Aang (23:25)_

_Toph is winning it._

**THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE DRASTIC DECISION**

The Universe was evidently making fun of her that night.

Sure, Katara said a lot of bad words and often lost her temper, but all in all, she thought she was a good person. She had never hurt anyone in her miserable life. What had she done to deserve this?

She slipped on her shoes with all the disdain she was capable of, took a deep breath, and closed the door behind her. 

Now she'd had enough. She had been an idiot to think she could rely on them. If she was going to get that book back, she'd have to do it on her own.

Then, if she managed to avoid any contact with the downstairs tenants, all the better. 

She descended the stairs with her heart in her throat and arrived in front of the dreaded door. She heard chaos coming from inside, shouting and the beginning of a fight. Toph's voice above the others.

Now what? Should she have knocked? 

Fortunately, at that moment, two girls opened the door and Katara dashed inside. It took her a few seconds to acclimatize to the confusion, to the river of people passing in front of her. In the middle of the room there was a circle and Katara was sure that in the middle of it she would find Toph. Sokka was surely there cheering, Aang probably trying to drag her away. 

Katara decided to ignore them and pointed directly at the room that overlooked the balcony on which the book had fallen. 

She looked around briefly, hoping not to run into any familiar faces. When she was certain that no one was watching her, she darted across the room, opened the door, and slipped into the dark room.

**TWELVE MINUTES BEFORE THE DISASTER: THE ROOM**

Katara slowly closed the door behind her, hoping once again that no one had seen her. 

She walked on tiptoe, a completely ridiculous gesture considering that the room was empty and with all the noise outside, no one would ever hear her footsteps anyway.

She walked slowly towards the window, proud of herself: she was one step away from succeeding, she would finally have her book back, she could finally go back to studying. And above all, this was yet another demonstration that she didn't need others and that she could do very well on her own. She should have thought of that from the beginning: no one would notice her, it would be so easy, going in and out of the room like a master of crime. That's what she was, a true master of crime. 

"Hey, who goes there?" 

A voice called out in the darkness. Katara was instantly petrified. 

**TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE DISASTER: HATRED**

Katara closed her eyes, wishing with all her might that she could become invisible. She prayed to any deity that the person who had gotten out of bed and turned on the light wasn't him, but she knew she was deluding herself. His scent was everywhere and his voice was bloody unforgettable.

When Katara opened her eyes again, she was confronted with a very, very confused Zuko. 

"What the hell are _you_ doing in my room?" 

Katara woke up from that spell, working her brain in a thousand spins, looking for a plausible explanation as to why, in fact, she was in his room. In her pajama pants, by the way. 

In the end, she concluded, the simplest thing was to tell them the truth. 

"You have something that belongs to me." 

Zuko looked even more confused.

"Are you still talking about that stupid puppet? I've told you a thousand times I didn't even know there were bison-shaped stuffed animals." 

Here, if Katara had been a reasonable person, she would have simply corrected him, told him that no, she simply wanted to take back the book she dropped out the window and go back to studying.

But Katara wasn't known for her calmness or patience, and Appa's puppet was simply too hot a topic, and Zuko's face alone, with that damned confused frown of his, did nothing but send her into a rage.

"Really?" She said, crossing her arms over her chest and taking a step toward him. "I'm sure if I looked hard enough in this room I'd find it!"

Zuko raised his arms to the sky, clearly exasperated.

"Go ahead! I'll just watch you make a fool of yourself!" 

How dare he?

"You're a liar."

“You’re being ridiculous.” 

“Is that so?”

"Yes! You've been deciding to war with me for a year and I don't even know what I did to you!"

But how naive did he think she was? Katara took another step toward him and was close enough to point a finger at his chest. 

"You know what's ridiculous? The fact that you won't even admit it!" 

"What on earth are you talking about?" 

"You and your stupid girlfriend and your stupid roommates hate us for no reason!" 

"But why should we! Besides," he added, looking her straight in the eye. "What girlfriend, I don't even have a girlfriend!" 

Why had he felt the need to specify it? And why did Katara find herself paying particular attention to that detail? She didn't give a damn about Zuko and his girlfriend, not now, nor when she had seen him disappear with her in this exact room a year before. 

"You - You ..." She began to blather, unable to come up with anything clever or cutting enough to say. "You hate _me_ for no reason!"

"Do you really believe that?"

Katara nodded and cast him a defiant look.

"You know what? I have a reason to hate you!" He yelled in her face. "And that is that you're fucking insufferable!" 

At that point, Zuko did the only thing that made sense to do in such a situation: he grabbed her face with his hands and kissed her.

**THE DISASTER: THE BEGINNING**

Katara was petrified just in that instant when Zuko's lips touched hers. After that, she did the only sensible thing in such a situation: she responded to the kiss with the same ferocity and sank her hands in his hair. 

She couldn’t stand him.

Her nostrils were intoxicated with his scent, her head was spinning, and her knees were weak. Zuko encircled her waist with one arm, sinking his other hand into her hair. Katara bit his lower lip, before slipping her tongue into his mouth, entwining it with his. The kiss became increasingly messy, their hands began to explore each other's bodies, and Katara's breath grew shorter and shorter. 

God, the way she couldn’t stand him. 

**TWENTY MINUTES AFTER THE DISASTER: THE ESCAPE**

When they parted, both had labored breaths and red, swollen lips. Zuko's hair was disheveled, his shirt crumpled. Katara didn't think she looked any better. 

Her heart was still beating wildly, and it was a miracle her knees still held her up.

What the fuck had she just done?

She finally found the courage to look into his eyes. Zuko's eyelids were slightly lowered, his pupils dilated and he looked at her in adoration, breathless.

_Fuck._

_Fuck fuck fuck._

"You're beautiful." He whispered to her in a hushed voice.

Katara swallowed and her breathing became even more irregular. Her brain was completely foggy and she struggled to formulate a meaningful thought. She knew only one thing: she had to get out of that room before she did any more things she would regret. 

Katara pushed him away with her arms, smiled at him embarrassedly and ran out of the room on her legs, stopping only when, without even knowing how she got there, she found herself sitting on the intermediate staircase between their landings, her head in her hands and her heart beating very fast in her chest.

It wasn't until that moment that she realized she had made the biggest mistake of her life, which caused her to scream in the middle of the deserted hallway in the middle of the night, "THE BOOK, FUCK!"

**TWELVE HOURS AFTER THE DISASTER: THE POST IT**

"Katara?" 

"Hmm."

Katara tossed and turned in her bed, trying to ignore her brother's voice. What did he want at this barbaric hour of the morning?

"Katara, I went out on the landing and found your book on the floor."

"What?" The girl immediately snapped on the bed, suddenly awake.

Sokka shrugged and threw the book at her on the bed.

"There's a note on it." He said casually. "There was actually a cup of coffee on there, too, but I drank it." 

Katara stopped listening to him and took the book in her trembling hands.

_I found this on my balcony, I'm guessing it's yours. Apparently, you weren't just looking for an excuse to sneak into my room. Have a nice day. – Z_

Bloody idiot.

**SEVENTY DAYS AFTER THE DISASTER: APPA, 2**

_Aang (4:27)_

_Hey, Katara. Toph and I found Appa. He was in the closet on the fourth floor. You can stop hating your boyfriend now._

**Author's Note:**

> The Jack Daniel's in the safe is based on a true story.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would really love to read your feedback!


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